Irish Slang Words And Phrases Often Found In Songs And What They Mean. a lot of these words
are in the R.T.E. programme ''Love Hate'' which is now shown in America. I use a sentence to give you the gist of where the
slang would be used to help you better understand it's meaning.

Slang Word

Meaning

Example

Auld

Old Person / Thing

Dublin In The Rare Auld Times

Gargle

Alcohol/Beer

He's On The Gargle Again

Cocky Farmer

Small Farmer

For Nearly 60 Years I've Been A Cocky

Delirium tremens

Major Hangover

Useta

Used To

I Useta Love Her Once

benjy

Bad Smell

Get Up The Yard There's A Smell Of Benjy Off Ye

ballin

Crying

The Little Child Was Ballin Hes Eyes Out

tight

Mean

As Tight As A Duck's Arse

quare

Strange

He's A Quare Fella Alright

Nipper

Child

That Nipper Is Too Young To Drink

Moth

Girlfriend

Says I To The Mot Get Your Hand Off Me Knee

Deadly

Great

Where Did Ye Get Them Deadly Strides Your Wearnig

knackered

Tired

Paddy Was Knackered After Digging Muck All Day

Gobshite

Idiot

That Gobshite Doesn't Know His Arse From His Elbow

Tay

Tea

More Tay There Miss Hickey

Topper

Good Child

He's A Little Topper

Skint

Without Money

He's Skint, that's Why He Won't Get The Drink In

Jacks

Toilet

She's In The Jacks Having A Wee Wee

Jackeen

A Dubliner

Them Jackeens Think They Know Everthing

Gawk

Staring

What's That Fella Gawking At ?

Step it out

To Dance

Step It Out Mary My Fine Daughter

Bog

Toilet

He's In The Bog Having A Slash

Gas

Funny

We Had Great Gas At The Circus.

Poled

Pregnant

She's Poled Again And She Only Dropped Last Month

Sound

Reliable Person

As Sound As A Pound

Slapper

Woman Without Morals.

Sure That Slapper Would Get Up On The Craic Of Dawn

Slag

Make Fun Of.

He's No Sense Of Humour And Can't Take A Slagging

Shag

Make Love To.

Any Chance Of A Shag Young One

Scratcher

Bed

He Spends His Whole Day In The Scratcher

Plastered

Very Drunk

I Spent All Me Dole And Got Plastered

Nixer

Working In Black Economy

The Tax Man Caught Him Doing A Nixer

Manky

Dirty

His Clothes Are Manky Dirty From Working.

Langered

Very Drunk

That Fella Is Langered Every Night Of The Week

Kip

Not Nice Place

I'm Not Going Back To That Kip Again

Jar

Beer.

Are You Going For A Jar Horse

Craic

Fun/Good Time

The Craic Was 90 In The Isle Of Man

Hooley

Drinking And Singing

There's A Hooley In Mick's Gaff Tonight

Porter

Stout / Guinness

He'd Drink Porter Out Of A Wellington Boot

Culchie

Person From Outside Town.

Them Culchies Are Taking All The Work

Bowsie

An Unpleasant Man

That Fella Has Being A Bowsie All His Life

Black Stuff

Stout

Two Pints Of The Black Stuff There Barman

Banjaxed

Broken

Me Car Is Banjaxed Beyond Repair

Away With The Fairies

Mad /Insane

He's Away With The Fairies Since The Wife Left Him

Nip

Naked

As Kids We Went Swimming In The Nip In The River Tolka

Monto

Area Of Dublin

Take Me Up To Monto

Amadán

Fool

[Danny Farrell Song] They Called Him Amadán And Fool

Bogtrotter

From Rural Ireland

The Bogtrotter Came To Dublin To Find Work

Boyo

Young delinquent male

That Boyo Would Rob Ye As Quick As He'd Look At Ye

Gurrier

Hooligan / Bad Boy

[Danny Farrell Song] ''What You'd Call A Gurrier''

Horse It Into Ye

Eat Food Fast

Horse It Into You Cynthia Your The Girl For Me

Oirish

No Translation

Strange language used by American to portray Irish people -Example- Top Of The Morning To Ye

The Mero

A Cinema In Dublin

Auld Bang Bang Went Up To The Mero

Sucking Diesel

Doing Things The Right Way

Now You're Sucking Diesel Boss

Lullaby

A Soothing Song

Me mother used to sing An Irish Lullaby

Up The Pole

Pregnant

That Slapper Is Up The Pole Again

Hames

Make A Mess Of

The Barber Made A Hames Of Me Hair

On The Brew

On The Dole - Unemployed

He Was Signing On The Brew

Dashing Blade

Handsome Man.

The Dashing Young Balade Was Chatting Up The Girls.

Shank's Mare/Pony

Walking

We'll Use Shank's Mare To Get Home

Subbies

Sub Contractors

The Subbies Work For The Main Contractor

Off Your Head

Not Thinking Straight / insane

Are ye off your head giving that drunk money ?

Are Ye Carrying ?

1st meaning, Have You Money With You ?

2nd meaning, Have You A Gun With You ?

Are you carrying or are you just pleased to see me ?

Cute Hoor

A clever / cunning person

He's a cute hoor, just like the Cavan men.

On The Brew

On The Dole

Singing On

On The Scratcher

In Receipt Of Unemployment Payments.

That scrounger's been on the scratcher all his life .

Gash

Rubbish / Trash

Let's throw the trash overboard. Gash is a word used on ships for rubbish that gets thrown into the sea.

Ranching

Chasing women

Let's go ranching. A term used on board ships for chatting-up women by the crew.